Toshiba Develops Next-Generation Lithium-ion Battery with New Anode Material

• New battery realizes driving range of electric vehicles boosted to
  320km on 6-minute, ultra-rapid recharge, triple that possible with
  current lithium-ion battery.
• New anode material, titanium niobium oxide achieves double the
  capacity of the anode of current lithium-ion batteries.

TOKYO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO:6502), an industry leader in lithium-ion
battery technology, today announced the development of its
next-generation SCiB™, which uses a new material to double the capacity
of the battery anode. The new battery offers high- energy density and
the ultra-rapid recharging required for automotive applications, and
will give a compact electric vehicle (EV) with a drive range of 320km*1
after only six minutes of ultra-rapid recharging—three times the
distance possible with current lithium-ion batteries.

Toshiba launched the SCiB™ as a safe, long-life, fast charging
lithium-ion battery in 2008. Since then, the company has constantly
refined the technology and improved real-world performance. For its
next-generation SCiB™, Toshiba has developed a titanium niobium oxide
anode material that has double the lithium storage capacity by volume of
the graphite-based anodes generally used in lithium-ion batteries.

The new battery also offers high energy density and ultra-rapid
recharging characteristics, and its titanium niobium oxide anode is much
less likely to experience lithium metal deposition during ultra-rapid
recharging or recharging in cold conditions—a cause of battery
degradation and internal short circuiting.

Toshiba’s current SCiB™ employs a lithium titanium oxide anode, and is
known for excellent operating characteristics in respect of safety, long
life and rapid charging. It has found wide use in vehicles and
industrial and infrastructure applications, including automobiles,
buses, railroad cars, elevators and power plants. The high energy
density of the battery, and its rapid recharging, have made important
contributions to enhancing the convenience and promoting the spread of
EV.

Building on this heritage, Toshiba has developed a proprietary method
for synthesizing and disarranging crystals of titanium niobium oxide and
storing lithium ions more efficiently in the crystal structure. The
anode of the next-generation SCiB™ realized through this approach has
double times the capacity of the anode of current lithium-ion batteries.

“We are very excited by the potential of the new titanium niobium oxide
anode and the next-generation SCiB™,” said Dr. Osamu Hori, Director of
Corporate Research & Development Center at Toshiba Corporation. “Rather
than an incremental improvement, this is a game changing advance that
will make a significant difference to the range and performance of EV.
We will continue to improve the battery’s performance and aim to put the
next-generation SCiB™ into practical application in fiscal year 2019.”

Rigorous testing of a 50Ah prototype of the new battery has confirmed
that it retains the long life cycle, low-temperature operation,
excellent safety and rapid recharging characteristics of the current
SCiB™. The energy density by volume of battery is twice that of the
current SCiB™. The next-generation SCiB™ maintains over 90% of its
initial capacity after being put through 5,000 charge/discharge cycles,
and ultra-rapid recharging can be done in cold conditions, with
temperatures as low as minus 10oC, in only ten minutes.

Toshiba will continue to develop higher energy density batteries that
extend the range of EVs and support ultra-rapid recharging, and aims to
commercialize the next-generation SCiB™ in fiscal year 2019.

Part of the research work on the next-generation SCiBTM was
subsidized by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development
Organization (NEDO).

*1 A compact EV with a 32kWh next generation SCiB™ in JC08 test cycle

About Toshiba

For over 140 years, Toshiba Corporation has contributed to a sustainable
future by applying innovative technologies to value creation. Today, our
business domains are centered on the essential infrastructure that
supports modern life and society. Guided by the principles of The Basic
Commitment of the Toshiba Group, “Committed to People, Committed to the
Future”, Toshiba promotes global operations that contribute to
realization of a world where generations to come can live better lives.
To
find out more about Toshiba, visit www.toshiba.co.jp/worldwide/about/index.html

Contacts

Toshiba Corporation
Seiji Ishibashi, +81-3-3457-2100
PR & IR
Division
[email protected]